


The Piano

by Aquatics



Category: Desert Peach
Genre: Nonnies Made Me Do It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 12:37:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19464154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquatics/pseuds/Aquatics
Summary: Written for '100 words of pianos in unexpected places'





	The Piano

The apartment comes with a piano. Miki never questions it - It belonged to his sister, Kjars explains, steadying the top as he opens it. His fingers dance over the keys, as if it were a valuable car. His eyes are fixed on it, his mouth forms a smile like that of a small child at Christmastime. He pushes down - It sounds, his face lights up, he sits down, readies his fingers with a wide grin - It warms her heart, because Kjars rarely smiles like this, indulgent and excited -

He gets five notes of Chopin out of it, before the wrong notes come out, his fingers slip, and a pained noise escapes his throat. His hands drop to his sides, and his chuckle is tinged with despair.

Miki lures him away with a cup of tea and a request to be held. She later takes the top down, finds a pretty old tablecloth to put over it. _Pani Fortepian_ * becomes a respectable display, one that holds photographs of matka, tata, her graduation picture, the knitting group. Eventually, a picture of some officers in Afrika is added. Nobody plays. Kjars has no interest in learning an instrument, he claims, though he will give the _Pani_ heated looks from across the room.

One night, she is awoken by something vaguely like Gerschwin, small notes carefully played in a slow, slow manner, first perfectly, on the dot, then sprawling into off-beat notes, saved by the occasional improvisation. But the off-beat grows too wide, and eventually it all ends with several deafening thuds.

The next morning, a new frame sits atop the piano. The picture holds an image of a well-dressed young boy(Recognizably Kjars) by a piano, and a smiling young lady with her hands over his shoulders. The boy has that same, excited smile that Kjars never indulges in. Kjars blushes when Miki asks, introducing the girl as his sister.

“She made me play, once or twice.” He rubs the side of his face, without meeting his wife’s gaze. Something tells her that this isn’t the whole truth, but then she recalls how his fingers shake and how bad his handwriting is, and keeps quiet.

* * *

*Lady Piano


End file.
